Archive for the ‘LqP in the News’ Category
Western Minnesota a hotbed for entrepreneurs!
February 1st, 2012
MPR’s Ground Level is doing a series on jobs and entrepreneurship in Minnesota…
Ground Level, MPR News’ project for exploring community issues in Minnesota, is going to take a look at that effort over the next month or two. Look and listen for stories from around the state about incubators, microlending, start-ups, people with bright ideas and people forced by a poor economy to become entrepreneurs. We’re calling it “One Job at a Time.”
To introduce the series, they looked at two trends:
–When you look at graphs showing change in Minnesota’s self-employment or in new companies started or in income generated by sole proprietors — all of which get at part of entrepreneurship — you see a dropoff in the latest years for which numbers are available.
…
–But interestingly, when you break those sets of numbers down geographically, an area of southwestern Minnesota seems to be fighting the trend better than other places.
That includes Lac qui Parle. We saw a two percent decline in self-employed between 2007-2009 and we saw a 27 percent increase in proprietor income. And what is credited for LqP’s bucking the trend? The smart, hard working people!
The farm economy has been booming, he noted, but he also mentioned an ethic of hard work and something in the culture of the region that makes people do for themselves.
Pam Lehmann is quoted in the article…
“When I started in January 2007, my board said, ‘We don’t want you to chase any smoke stacks. We don’t want you to chase the big company that will employ a couple of hundred people.’ If they want to come here, we won’t turn them down, but we’re not actively recruiting them. We feel we’ll have more long-term impact by helping the one-man shops get started and grow. If you help 100 small guys get started, you’ve created 100 jobs. If one or two fail, that’s not the impact of one big employer failing and losing all the jobs.”
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Maynard Meyer featured on KARE 11
December 24th, 2011
If you haven’t seen or heard it yet, be sure to check out this week’s KARE 11′s Land of 10,000 stories. It features our own Maynard Meyer as the voice of Madison, Minnesota. Here’s a snippet of the story…
His voice has been wafting across the prairies since 1983, when Meyer ignored the doubters who said he’d be crazy to build a radio station in a town of 1,500 people… and one giant cod. The 25-foot fiberglass fish sits at the edge of town welcoming visitors to “Lutefisk Capital USA,” which gives context to Meyer’s Bismarck quip from earlier in the morning.
As the article reports…
Meyer is co-owner of 25,000-watt Q-92 FM. Or, put more accurately, co-owner and then some. “General manager, chief engineer, morning DJ, news director, program director, women’s ski report,” Meyer laughs as he rattles off his titles.
We are thankful that Maynard and his fish are here with us and drawing some well-deserved attention!
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Update on MIRC-Funded LqP Projects
November 11th, 2011
Last week, Dawn Hegland from UMVRDC gave a presentation at the Blandin Foundation on MIRC projects in our area. She gave updates on two projects that are happening in Lac qui Parle County and was kind enough to let us share her notes here…
Johnson Memorial Healthcare Facility – $15,000
Overview: Our goals of this project are to:
a. Increase access to computers and broadband services for all area residents:
b. Spur commerce and tourism through increased and more effective use of technology:
c. Enhance access to technology education and training (computers, software and internet use) for all area citizens:
d. Increase access to on‐line goods and services from local units of government, private, and not‐for profit
Status: 5 individuals have been chosen to participate in the pilot Homestream project. They have been contacted and installation of equipment will begin in mid April. Once installation is compete we anticipate meeting all of our project goals
The equipment has been purchased and training has taken place. Currently participants are able to contact family members via video and can make video calls to the hospital. We hope to get the clinic added this quarter.
UMVRDC – $4,405
Our goal is to create city websites for Echo and Bellingham, MN. Work will begin working with the cities in April.
• The city of Echo, population 278, will utilize a GovOffice website template created for cities. This template gives the ability for multi-users to safely update the website. The city can post timely information such as city council agenda and minutes, ordinances and event information for the use of the residents, businesses and interested persons. The city will be able to receive training from both the UMVRDC and GovOffice for maintenance of their website. The UMVRDC will create and add content to the following 16 city pages: Home page, About your city, General, Location, History, City Departments, Agenda and Minutes, Ordinances, Services, Organizations, Businesses, Recreation, Events/Community Calendar, Helpful Links, News, Contact us. In addition, we will create 20 business subpages for the businesses in Echo. This will include contact information and business links. We will also offer businesses the opportunity to add a description and photos.
• The city of Bellingham, population 205, has decided to create a smaller website. The UMVRDC will utilize a free platform such as WordPress to create a simple six page website with basic information. We will help them purchase a unique domain name to connect to this site. We will create a website for them with the following content: Home, About your city, Mayor and Council, Businesses, Events, and Contact Information. We will list all of Bellingham’s businesses on their business page with contact information and website links. The UMVRDC will create this website for Bellingham and annually update and maintain this website.
Status: Contracts in place with communities, design work to be completed fall winter 2011.
Dawson Boyd Schools – $25,000
Goal #1: Establish a Multimedia Collaboration Center (MCC). We are taking a classroom and turning it into the MCC. This room used to be a computer lab and does have many electrical outlets already set up. We will need to do some additional wiring, which we have already received a quote to do so. The countertops and cupboards will also be getting a facelift. Our shop class will reface the cupboards and will also build a laptop storage center. We have started ordering some of the equipment for the room such as 20 desktop computers, 10 laptop computers, and several Open Mesh wireless routers. We plan to order the rest of the equipment/furniture in May. We have had several planning meetings and have collaborated with Dan Fondell of TAC Computers. We will have the MCC fully operational by September 1, 2011.
Status: Over the summer the room has been transformed. We installed wifi in the HS portion of the building but we need to add an additional firewall to the system so adults/students can access our wifi without compromising our security. Printers need to be connected in the lab but will be done shortly. The center is being used daily by teachers and students with many positive comments.
Goal #2: Establish a Student Tech Team. Lori Sieg is creating a class called the Computer Saavy Specialist (CSS). Students in this class will learn how to develop web pages using Dreamweaver, troubleshoot basic computer and hardware problems, perform computer maintenance, and refurbish computers. Dan Fondell of TAC Computers will come in one day per week to team teach with Lori Sieg. This class will also go into the public sector to develop web pages for local businesses. Businesses will also have the option of learning how to set up Facebook and Twitter. We were targeting junior students, but after doing our pre-registration for next year’s class schedule, most of the students were seniors. Therefore, we will need to change our plans for the senior to senior/student tech team. Our original goal was for students to take the year long CSS course as juniors. Then during their senior year, they would either be on our student tech team and/or be enrolled in our service learning program. Since most of the students are seniors, we have decided that our student tech team and service learning program will need to start at the semester break. At the semester break, students will do two days a week training seniors citizens on basic computer skills and three days a week working with Sam Olson on as a member of the student tech team.
Status: The CSS class will also start refurbishing computers. These computers will be recycled into classrooms for additional research capacity. We also plan to work with the EDA to distribute refurbished computers to those in need in the community.
Goal #3: Establish a Teacher/Community Training Academy. Cindy Demers has been in contact with Carmen Mills at ABE. They will be offering tutorial classes on basic Microsoft products this year. Dan Fondell is also offering a “Clean Up Your Computer Class” through Community Education. Four DBHS staff members have agreed to create online classes. Ideas so far include: How to use document cameras, Overview of the Microsoft Cloud, etc. We are still in the process of deciding how the classes will be delivered and final class topics.
Status: Classes will be advertised on the school website and community-ed flyers and in the local newspaper.
Several additional staff went through the Moodle training this summer and will be adding online components into their classrooms. Online community classes include:
• Office 2010
• Native American Strategies
• Doodle/Survey Monkey
• Shutterfly
• Basic Compuer Care
• Google Documents
Changes made to any goals: One change we made for goal number one is that we will not need a separate broadband internet service for the MCC. Our Technology Coordinator offered the following response: It is my recommendation not to add a separate broadband Internet connection for the resource room. With a few changes, the existing Internet access can be utilized. The network switches in the resource room and the server room should be replaced with managed gigabit switches. This will provide increased bandwidth and the ability to create virtual LAN’s (VLAN’s). The VLAN’s will allow the network to be segmented into two networks on the same link. One will be a “Public” network and the other will be ISD 378’s “private” network. When the Open-Mesh wireless access points are added to switches, a “Public” and “Private” wireless network also can be created. Configuring the network in this manner will not compromise the security of ISD 378’s network infrastructure, nor restrict access on the “Public” network. This would also eliminate a year over year expense that the district would need to fund. We have also discussed ordering some Apple I PADs instead of Senteos.
LqP EDA- $25,000
Overview:The goal of the LqP Computer Commuter is to increase the digital literacy of area residents and businesses, advance our knowledge workers, promote broadband availability and digital inclusion with an innovative project offering a mobile computer lab environment open to the general public at no charge.
Status: We started this process and are having great success with attendance above our expectations. Our users range in age from teens to elderly and have a wide set of skill ranges. We are in six communities once a week for four hours in each town. Our coordinator is available at all times to offer FREE assistance and guidance as needed. There is no cost to the user for accessing the LqP Computer Commuter.
At the end of August 2011 our total number of users is nearly 100 we anticipate surpassing that in the near future.
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Broadband Advocates & Budding Web Developers
November 6th, 2011
Dale W. Hammond and Lyndon Perry are students at Gonzaga University. They spoke with us a few weeks ago about our Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) program initiatives. They were taking a higher level look at what MIRC partners might be able to do to enhance the benefits of the MIRC projects and recently shared their report with us.
The students knew about a program in the UK where folks in rural areas were offered computer and Internet training and were comparing MIRC to that UK efforts. The good news is that the programs shared many successful traits – but the students were able to pull one difference from the UK program that might help us make the most of our efforts here.
They talked about adding to the MIRC initiative a concerted effort develop local advocates through a Hometown Advocate Program (HAP). The idea is to find HAP candidates who are broadband users and work well with groups, to encourage them to become local champions, provide them with tools they need and reward them. The local trainer becomes part of the local capacity that does not go away when the grant funding ends. So it’s an effective way to build lasting capacity.
Interestingly enough we already have one such plan in place with our Website Development Series starting this week. We have classes scheduled for Wednesday (8:30-10:30) at Dawson High School and (6:00-8:00 pm) in the Computer Commuter in the parking lot of Dawson City Hall. It’s a perfect class for anyone who likes to write, likes computer and is looking for a change in career. Call for more information 320-598-7976
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